Dbaikt device



3,6m 14 arch 15 1927 J. L. HuTcl-HNGS DRAIN DEVICE Filed Aug. 15, 1925 z sheets-snee; 1

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' k; March 1,5 1927. J L HUTCHINGSY 9,

DRAIN DEVICE lFiled Aug-.15, 1925 z sheets-sheet 2l A Patented Mar. l5, i927.

UNiTED STATE' JOSEPH L. HUTCHINGS, OF OLEAN, NEW YORK.

DRAIN DEVICE.

Application filed August 15, 1925. Serial No. 50,424.

This invention 'relates to an improved faucet or drain device of simple and inetc., are stored in containers, or tanks, whichv are either stationary or portable, a great deal of difficulty and inconvenience has been experienced when the ordinaryfaucets or 'drain devices attached to the outside of these liquid containers froze during the Winter time. In many instances the liquid Would freeze Withinthe drain device located outside of the container with a consequent burst of the drain and the loss of aconsiderable portion of the liquid, and not infrequently allof the liquid, which Would escape from the container before the leak could be repaired.' In the case of stationary containers, for example oil tanks, the usual practice has been to bury the draining device attached thereto in a suitable hole, or boX, filled with heat-insulating material, such as manure, etc.l

Even in the case of'tliese buried and insulated drain devices, they frequently freeze and then burst 'with a consequent loss of at least a considerable portion of the liquid,

' if not all, before the leakv canbe repaired.

. There has therefore been a marked need for a draining device of simple and inexpensive construction which would be adaptable to use and operation within thetank, instead of outside the tank. It was with this n eed inl mind that I invented this neuf and novel draining 'device as a continuation in part of my drain device describedand claimed in my application tiled June 6, 1925, Serial No. 35,499. v A Y In this improvedv drain'device -I employ a ipe nipple with a lateral lvent near one en which is properly attached to the-inside of the liquid'container. I also use a cap to t over, or la plug to t into, that end of thenipple having the vent. When the capor plug, 1s turned beyond the vent, so that the vent is open, the liquid-from. the

container can 'rushthrough the vent intoA the pipe nipple and thus be conveyed to some suitable place outside of the container.'

In order to operate the cap orplug at the end of the nipple, a stem-turning arrangement ma be inserted from the outside of the container through the nipple into a suitable socket within the far, enclosed, end of the cap or plug. Thus, in order to open the sired, the stem may then be either completely Withdrawn, or at vleast Withdrawn completely from the inside of the nipple so that the escaping'liquidinay have full advantage of the entire inside of the nipple leading to the outside of the container.

The means on the outside of the container' connected With the nipple (or plug) arrangement on the inside of the container may be vof varying construction.. In the `preferred embodiment of my invention I vprefer to have the stem operate Within a.

bushing connected to a T .located between the bushing and a pipe nipple properly attached to the container and in ali with the nipple attached to the' inside of the container. With this arrangement the stem may be either permanently attached, or4not,.

to the cap or plug within the container. the event that it is desired to withdraw the stem, for one reason or another, after the vent has been closed, the same may be removed from the outside connections by unscrewing the bushing from the T. 'The' opening thus made vacant by the removal of the bushing canl then be closed with anordinary plug of proper size. Should the stem be removed in this manner the draining device would then be left in a substantially fool-proof condition. This is often a very desirable feature in the case of tanks containing large and expensive amounts of valuable'liquids. The contents of the .tank

may be drained 0E through the T into any appro riate line, receptacle or What-not, as desired. On the other hand the container itself could be filled by forcing the liquid lfrom the outside into the T and thence from `the nipple arrangements through the vent into the container.

A study of thisinvention will show that it will lend itself to 4certain variations. Thus, instead of the vent being located in the far end of the inside of the nipple on the inside of the container,the vent could, instead, be placed in the cap or plug. Again, both the -cap (or plug) or nipple might each have a vent or vents. Instead of the plug or cap being operated from within, it might be operated by some means located on the outside of the cap or plug. Thus the cap or plug might be operated to susV top or side of the tank. Caps and plugs lof various desi s could be used. In fact a solid plug would end itself to operation with this vdevice in case the vent were placed in the nipple. As already intimated, the stem used lto turn the cap or plu 4from' within the drain device lcan be eit er detachable or non-detachable, as desired.

In ocrder to make it impossible to' eompletely separate the cap or plug from the nipplemember, I prefer to have a guard of a propriate length attached to `the tank or about the nipple so that when the vent-is in the open posltion the cap or plug will bear against the far end of this guard. Other means could, of course, be employed for this urpose;

In or er to keep the nipple permanently attached 'to the wall of the container, so

section. l is the bottom and 2 is a side' that it will 4not turn when the cap or plug is rotated about the other end of thefnipple in order to open and Iclose the vent, a lock washer may be employed about' the ni ple.

many-instances, such as in the oil industry, it -is desirable to drain the contents of containers from different levels. Thus,

for example, it might'be desired to drain off a stratum of liquid, let us sa a foot or two feet, etc., from the bottom o the container. In order to make this possible I may use the a; above described draining device in combination with achamber equipped with an adjustable conduit -to be led to the level .desired as shown in Fig. 4. This chamber,

whichmay be a cylinder of appropriate silze, is located about the vent and cap or p u me 'ately adjacent the chamber cannot leak into it unless the adjustable conduitis placed at that level. yThis chamber may be attached to thenipple between the vent and the wall of the container,` or, indeed, it might be attached to the wall of the container itself.v The chamber is so designed that the .cap or plug may be inserted into the chamber after the chamber has been put into position about the vent. This can be accomplished by having the end of the chamber nearest to the capv or plug, made removable. The adjustable conduit leading tothe chamber is preferably located at 0r near that end of the chamber attached to the nipple or wall of the container. This is done in order to remove as much strain mg or lowering as possible4 from the point of attachment of the chamber with the nipple or wall o'fthe container. The adjustable conduit may be of any appropriate desi suitable for raisit to di erent levels within the container. This invention is more 'particularly illustrated in the accompanying "sketches in such a way that the liquid im Figurel is a cross-sectional view .of the improved drain device 'attached to the inside ofl a tank. Thestem is shown inserted into the cap. l

Figure 2 is likewise a cross-'sectional view, showing the vent in the open position with the cap resting against a guardto prevent the complete disengagement of-the cap from the nipple.. The stem isshownwall. The nipple 3 lits into a flange-'fitting i 4 attached' to the wall'2 by the rivets 5. .9

plug, as we ll as to fit in'to the flange-fittinglThese ,threads are. suitv ably tapered so that ,the nipple can be next vto the cap.

drawn tightly, and unleakably, into the flange-tting, and so that the cap, or plug, may be -tightly drawn about, or into, the nipple 'to prevent any leakageA from the vent 6. The cap 7 and the plug .8' are suitably equippedwith either holes or sockets 11 to iit the stem 12, which is to move a cap or plug-to open or close the vent. The stem 12 is equipped with a suitable turning handle, or wheel, 413 to turn the stem when itis tted into the' socket 11. The stem 12 is snugly tted into the bushing 14, the

cap 15, leakage.

The bushing 14 is fitted into the T 17, and the T is appropriately fitted onto a nipple 18, which in turnl fits into the flangeand the packing 16, to prevent any itting 4 attached to t-he container walls by the rivets 5. The T 17 has a lead-oil drain 19, which leads to any suitable place or receptacle.- The stem 12is equipped with a head 20, which is adapted to t -into socket l1. On the other hand, ifdesired, the stemv 12 may be permanently attached to the cap -7, or plug 8. In the event that it is desired to-have the stem detachable from the .cap or plug, the stem may be Withdrawn from of theA drain device.

the socket 1.1 and nipple 3 until the head 2O rests back against the bushing 14. In this manner, the nipples 3 and v18 may be kept wholly clear on the inside,when the `vent 6 has been openedfto allow the inflow of liquid. The contents of the container can then rush right through thesenip les down through the T 17 and its lead-ofi) 19. In many instances, it may be desirable to completely remove the stem-turning arrangement after f the vent has been completely closed. Inorder to accomplish this, it is only necessary to unscrew and remove the bushing 14. An ordinary plug'can then be inserted into that end of the T in order to protect the inside This would make the drain substantially fool-proof. On the other hand, the stem 12 could remain completely inserted in the drain'device and some suitable means could be provided for locking it in that position so that it would again be substantially fool-prooi'.

Figure 3 shows the use of a cap having a vent in the lateral side thereof.l In order to close the vent, the cap need only be turned tightly about the nipple 3.

.Figures 5 and 6 illustrate the use of a plug, instead of a cap, fitting into the nipple. In Figure 5, the vent is in the nipple. In Figure 6, the vent is in the plug. The threads within the nipple, plug, umay be so ta ered that the vent is unleakably closed w en the drawn into the nipple. It 1s, of course, to be seen that the cap, plug or nipple may have more than one vent. Any number of vents could be inserted. In fact, there is n o reason why vents could not be employed in the nipple and cap or plug atthe same time. If only one vent is to be used, it can, of course, be made as diameter of the nipple or cap or plug. screening effect may be obtained by using a number of relatively smaller vents.

Figure 4 illustrates the use of a chamber device 21 about the cap 7 or plug 8, and vent 6, which is adapted to drain off the contents of the container at different levels .within the container through the adjustabley conduit 22. The chamber 21, which may be a cylinder, is attached to the nipple 3 and locked by lock washer 10. This chamber might likewise be attached to the tank itself. In order to get at the cap chamber 21 may have a head 22 made removable. The conduit .23 is suitably attached to the chamber 21, and preferably as close as possible to the end of the chamber attached to the nipple so that lthe strain thereon may be as little as possible. This conduit 23 may be made to move from one level to another within the tank by a chain attached thereto leading up to the top of the container. In order that the cap, or plug, and the nipple may not be entirely disenand without the4 plug is tightly 7, or plug 8, the.

eased,

the chamber 21 is 'made of such I length that when thevent 6 is in the open A operation of this improved drain device i in its simplest form. The liquid within the container will flow down through the vent 6 when the vent is in the open position. AsI

soon as the cap or'plug has been moved back against the guard 9, the liquid is in a position to rush through the nipple 3. order to allow a free unimpeded passage of the liquid through the drain device, the stem the case of a detachable arrangement, may be withdrawn from the axial passageway so that the head 11 of the stem will rest against the bushing 14. The escaping liquid then has a free outletthrough 19. In order to shut off the low of liquid from the container, it is only necessary to again push the stem 12 back through the axial passage of the nipples 18 and 3 so that the head 2O of the stem may engage the socket 11 of the cap or plug. An appropriate number of turns will again close the vent and, if desired, the stem 12 may then be detached from the socket 11 and completely removed from the draining device by unscrewing the 'bushing 14. i..

In the case of the chamber arrangement adapted to drain stratums of liquid from di fferent levels of the container, all that is necessary is to lift, or lower, the adjustable conduit 22 to the level or stratum of liquid desired. The chamber and conduit are thus in such a position that the liquid of that particular level may flow readily into the chamber itself. In order to have this liquid flow out of the draining device into the leadofi' 19, it is only necessary that the vent 6 b e opened by the cap 7 or plug 8, as above described.

It must be evident' that numerous modiiications of diferent features of this im` proved drain device are possible, such as are not described above, without departing4 from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

which comprises, a threadedv stationary member having an axial passage therethrough, a threaded movable member opera.-

Inv

1. A drain device of the non-freezing type tively connected to said' stationary member,

the threads of the stationary and movable members being in engagement with vone another and so cut that said threads may be tightly and non-leakably drawn into engagement with one another, a vent. leading to the` member, andv axial passage of the stationar means for rotating the mova le member in fixed longitudinal position relative to the stationary member' to open and close the vent.

2. A drain device of the non-freezing type which comprises, a threaded stationary member having an axial passage therethrough, a threaded movable member operatively connected to said stationarymeniber,

vthe threads ofthe stationary and movable members being in engagement vWith one the axial passage of the stationary member,

means for rotating the movable member in fixed longitudinal position relative to the stationary member to open and close the vent, and means `to prevent' the complete Withdrawal of the movable member from the 'stationary member.

3. A drain device of the non-freezing type which comprises7 a threaded stationary member having an axial passage therethrough, a threaded movable member operatively connected to said stationar'ymember,

. the threads of the stationary and movable vmembers being in engagement With one another and so cut that said threads may be tightly and non-leakably drawn into engagement with one another, a vent leading to the axial passage of the stationary mem-A ber, means for rotating the movable member in fixed longitudinal position relative to the stationary melnber toopen and close the vent, and means for conducting the contents of a container from different levels to the vent.

4. A drain device of the non-freezing type which comprises, a threaded stationary member .having yan axialv passage therethrough, a threaded movable member operatively connected to said stationary member, the threads of the stationary and movable members being in engagement with one another and so cut that said threads may be tightly and non-leakably drawn into engagement with one another, a vent leading to the axial passage of thestationary member, and detachable means for rotating the movable member in Xed longitudinal position relative to the stationary member to open and close the vent.

In testimony whereof I alx m signature.

JOSEPH L. HUT HINGS. 

